Observations on the Cuticle Ultrastructure of Meloidogyne hapla Males
Johnson, P.W.
Journal of Nematology 13(2): 231-233
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-300X PMID: 19300753 Document Number: 182355
The cuticle of M. hapla males is about 1.5 mu m thick and consists of 8 layers divisible into 3 zones: a 5-layered cortex, a 2-layered median zone and a striated basal zone. The cortex is about 0.1 mu m thick in total thickness. The outermost layer of the median zone is 0.5 mu m and the innermost layer of this zone 0.4 mu m thick. This layer varies in width and disappears at the base of the lateral field incisures. The basal layer (0.5 mu m thick) has vertical striations with a periodicity of about 0.025 mu m. At the edges of the lateral field this layer becomes forked and is replaced under the field by 2 obliquely oriented fibre layers. A thin, often discontinuous electron-transparent zone separates the striated basal layer from the underlying hypodermis. These observations are similar to those made on M. javanica and M. incognita.